In the world of online commerce, buyers and sellers use a variety of techniques to ensure goods and services meet their mutual expectations. For example, many users have become familiar with the electronic retail experience through a multitude of different e-commerce agents.
Many users have purchased products from companies that specialize in providing products or services directly to customers. Such companies are typically referred to as direct sellers. In general, there are two types of direct sellers: electronic retailers or “e-tailers” and manufacturers. A direct seller refers to those companies whereby, upon receiving an order, the e-tailer ships products directly to the consumer or to a wholesaler or manufacturer for delivery. A manufacturer sells directly to consumers via the interne. For the manufacturer, the goal is to remove intermediaries (e.g., disintermediation) and to establish direct customer relationships.
Online intermediaries provide another type of electronic retail experience to customers. Online intermediaries are companies that facilitate transactions between buyers and sellers. These firms make up the largest group of B2C (business to consumer) companies today. Generally, the most common type of online intermediary are brokers. A broker is a company that facilitates transactions between buyers and a variety of different sellers. For example, a virtual mall typically refers to a broker company that helps consumers buy from a variety of different online stores.
With each of these electronic retail providers, advantages are afforded to the customer with respect to enabling the online shopping experience to be executed faster and with more convenience. Product offerings and prices can be updated immediately to reflect certain sales or deals. Other advantages include the fact that, in some cases, call centers can be integrated with the website. Additionally, the widespread adoption of broadband telecommunications will further enhance the overall buying experience.
There exists a problem however, with respect to the customer online commerce experience for purchasing specialized components for complex systems. Home-built desktop computer systems comprise one such specialized system.
Home built, or do it yourself, computer systems refer to those computer systems whereby the individual components comprising the computer system are purchased by the customer from one or more sources. The sources can be the neighborhood electronics store, but are more often online electronic retailers. The components are then assembled by the customer into a complete computer system. Such components include, for example, computer system motherboards, system memory, CPUs, graphics cards, hard drives, computer system cases/chassis, displays, and the like.
Computer systems are complex systems. The complexity stems from the fact that to achieve a desired level of suitability for a particular purpose, or to achieve a desired level of overall performance, certain components are only compatible with a distinct subset of the total available components that might be present on the marketplace. For example, certain motherboards are only compatible with certain types of system memory. Certain graphics cards are only compatible with certain types of motherboards. Certain CPUs are only compatible with certain types of system memory and/or motherboards. Certain CPU-motherboard-graphics card combinations require certain power supplies, which in turn require certain system chassis. Such compatibility constraints apply to virtually each of the components that make up a desktop computer system.
The increasing popularity of computer systems and their use in graphics based applications such as video editing, gaming, and the like has given rise to a new class of customers that prefer to build their own computer system (e.g., do-it-yourself buyers). These customers embrace the challenge of selecting the various components that go into making their computer systems.
A significant number of such potential do-it-yourself customers, however, may not have the skill to implement, or may be intimidated by, the selection/buying process. A significant number of the potential do-it-yourself buyers would very much like to exercise the personal discretion inherent in the selection and purchasing of the individual components making up their computer system, but are otherwise inclined to avoid the process. Such buyers may fall back on more traditional purchases from, for example, OEM system builders in order to avoid making mistakes.
Thus, what is required is an electronic-commerce method and system that provides the benefits of purchasing specialized components for complex systems, such as home building a desktop computer system, while avoiding the potential pitfalls of making mistakes in the component selection process. Embodiments the present invention provide a novel solution to the above requirement.